steer me in the right direction

DannyBoy mentioned LEDs to me late yesterday and I stayed up all night researching...lol

The Hydroponichut PRO Grow 180 seems like the right choice for me.

I need it to cover 2ft by 3ft (drip tray). I plan to do the tray "SOG" style (8plant) only vegging rooted clones for about a week, so penetration won't be needed past 18" at max.

My price range is 0-300. I think it's the right one for me, but I'm open to other suggestions.

There's a couple guys around here that have some pro-grows. They seem to be happy with them. I like what I see from them too and they are priced nice too. I think you're headed in the right direction, maybe someone else can speak to the coverage area on them for you.

I wouldn't use it for 6sq ft.... at least not for flowering...

To get the most out of LED's in flowering you either need a crazy big foot print with high intensity, or a few smaller panels, pretty close to the plants. Might want to think about the Pro Grow 260...

And I have a Pro Grow 180 (and I love it) so I'm not a hater, just don't want to see you get a light that's not quite good enough and getting a bad taste in your mouth for all LED's...
Right now I'm using the PG180 for 1 plant, lol - A bit over kill, but I'm only running two plants right now, and the other plant has a 180 watt (110-120? actual draw) Blackstar over it. Next probably try the Pro grow over 3 and the blackstar over 2... or maybe 2 and 2....

Here's a pic of the Pro-Grow(left) and the Blackstar (right)

View attachment 1922947

Maybe try the diamond series LED's, as they are newer, they most likely have more efficient LED's. Also the PG lights have a tad too much white in them for my taste.
http://www.advancedledlights.com/3w-led-grow-lights/new-diamond-series-leds-extreme-3w-led-technology/

ahhh This is a really difficult decision, so many choices... And I just know (guess) there's a big difference in quality between them (LED lights in general).

Beefbisquit said:

I wouldn't use it for 6sq ft.... at least not for flowering...

To get the most out of LED's in flowering you either need a crazy big foot print with high intensity, or a few smaller panels, pretty close to the plants. Might want to think about the Pro Grow 260...

And I have a Pro Grow 180 (and I love it) so I'm not a hater, just don't want to see you get a light that's not quite good enough and getting a bad taste in your mouth for all LED's...
Right now I'm using the PG180 for 1 plant, lol - A bit over kill, but I'm only running two plants right now, and the other plant has a 180 watt (110-120? actual draw) Blackstar over it. Next probably try the Pro grow over 3 and the blackstar over 2... or maybe 2 and 2....

Here's a pic of the Pro-Grow(left) and the Blackstar (right)

View attachment 1922947

Click to expand...

Does the pro grow feel more "heavy duty" than the blackstar? If you could only have one, which would it be?

And, I was thinking I'd regret not getting the 240w ONLY $100 more. Thanks for confirming that. Looks like I'll have to spend around $400 -- With 400max (instead of the original 300) is there anything else you'd suggest other than the ones I've mentioned?

Those diamond lights are really expensive per watt, 100w for $300!

Has anyone on here built an LED light before? I'm savvy with those types of things, but when I compared their price to the price of the 3w CREE LEDs (rapidleds) I don't think I could build one for what they're selling them for...?

IMHO, the new Pro-Grow 180 will do a 3' x 2' area just fine, veg or bloom.
I 'd previously did a 30" x 20" tent grow with their 2010 Pro-grow 180 and 90w UFO (more here »)

Their current revision of the pro-grow line noticeably exceeds the performance of their earlier 2010 lamps, and I'm still happy with my 2010 stuff, it's just move to vegging and autos and stuff...

Beefbisquit said:

I wouldn't use it for 6sq ft.... at least not for flowering...

To get the most out of LED's in flowering you either need a crazy big foot print with high intensity, or a few smaller panels, pretty close to the plants. Might want to think about the Pro Grow 260...

And I have a Pro Grow 180 (and I love it) so I'm not a hater, just don't want to see you get a light that's not quite good enough and getting a bad taste in your mouth for all LED's...
Right now I'm using the PG180 for 1 plant, lol - A bit over kill, but I'm only running two plants right now, and the other plant has a 180 watt (110-120? actual draw) Blackstar over it. Next probably try the Pro grow over 3 and the blackstar over 2... or maybe 2 and 2....

Here's a pic of the Pro-Grow(left) and the Blackstar (right)

View attachment 1922947

Click to expand...

Which light do you like better...Blackstar or Pro Grow?

a blackstar 240 is basically the equivalent of a pro grow 180, actually the blackstar only draws 130ish watts the PG 180 draws 155. I own 3 PG 180s and a 2010 model PG 250. I also have a 50w blackstar ufo that I use for side lighting from time to time. You'll be better served with the pro-grows, they also have a longer warranty 12 mo vs. 36 mo. I too use them as overkill since I can only legally grow four plants at a time I keep one panel for each plant. The 180 can def do two no problem, 3 may be a small sacrifice in final yield IMO but I haven't tried it so take that for what it is.

If I were you I'd go ahead and spend a little more on the 260 as it will give you a much larger footprint to work with. Yeah its a bit more but you won't have to replace a bulb, ballast, or any lighting for the next three years (probably longer than that) if you go this route so it does make sense from a big picture perspective.

nmate2oo2 said:

Which light do you like better...Blackstar or Pro Grow?

Click to expand...

No question, the Pro grow is a better light.

I have a crappy light meter built into my pH meter, @ 10 inches away from the Blackstar I get a reading of about 750, with the Pro Grow it's past the max which is over 2000.... so there's no comparison between the brightness and penetration.

The PG180 is rated @ 160 actual watts drawn, the BS180 is about 110-115, so it makes a world of difference. The Pro Grow is heavier, a bit louder, and far superior in build quality. I'd take the Pro grow180 over a BS240 any day of the week, all day, everyday.

I've heard great things about Advanced LED's but I can justify paying $3/watt... not when you can get performance like the Pro Grows for less than $2/watt...

Beefbisquit said:

No question, the Pro grow is a better light.

I have a crappy light meter built into my pH meter, @ 10 inches away from the Blackstar I get a reading of about 750, with the Pro Grow it's past the max which is over 2000.... so there's no comparison between the brightness and penetration.

The PG180 is rated @ 160 actual watts drawn, the BS180 is about 110-115, so it makes a world of difference. The Pro Grow is heavier, a bit louder, and far superior in build quality. I'd take the Pro grow180 over a BS240 any day of the week, all day, everyday.

I've heard great things about Advanced LED's but I can justify paying $3/watt... not when you can get performance like the Pro Grows for less than $2/watt...

Click to expand...

i have the advanced LED 300w diamond and it's my favorite cause of the focus lens on top of each led which makes it really bright and i can put the light a bit higher than the normal LEDs , but you are right it's too pricey , i think most LED vendors are adding those lenses now ,and when we have enough then we'll see lower prices.

and i still have my old pro source 180w but it's not as good as the advancedled (in the end i still get what i need from both).

man i love the competition that is going on with LED vendors, which is really good for us

pro-source and the pro-grow series def aren't the same. I agree with beefbisquit. While I only have a blackstar 50w that I use for side lighting I do have a friend with a blackstar 500. For my money and garden the prow-grows throw down harder. I've had a GLH spectra in the past too, but it was one of those early 2011 models that had mad issues so I went ahead and flipped it. Good light as well but given the choice for the price I'm stuck on hydro hut.

hoss12781 said:

pro-source and the pro-grow series def aren't the same. I agree with beefbisquit. While I only have a blackstar 50w that I use for side lighting I do have a friend with a blackstar 500. For my money and garden the prow-grows throw down harder. I've had a GLH spectra in the past too, but it was one of those early 2011 models that had mad issues so I went ahead and flipped it. Good light as well but given the choice for the price I'm stuck on hydro hut.

Click to expand...

My pro source 180w is really old(times when LEDs were crappy) and I'm seriously thinking of replacing it with a pro grow 260 as support for the Advanced 300w Diamond, never tried pro grow before but the low prices are tempting .

you won't be dissapointed man. I have grown with several different brands and there is a reason I'm using pretty much all hydro hut lights (except the 50w bs side light). Haven't tried Advanced but have heard solid things, just too much $$ for me and I already have everything I need for my four plant garden.

I like what I'm seeing with the pro-grows. Are the only differences between the 260 and the 180 really just 20w and a little coverage area but for $100 less?

Yeah I think so, 20w and the 260 is going to have way more flowering diodes than the 180. The 180 is a 50/50 split between veg and flower sets. The 260 (I'm basing this off the 2010 model PG 250 that I own) has about a 3 to 1 ration flower to bloom. Find user blazedmonkey - he just bought a 260 a while ago and did a journal with it. He'd be able to tell you for sure.

Cool, thanks. that's all good information that I wasn't aware of and they don't say anything like that in the descriptions. so I was wondering why make two panels within 20w from each other.

I just bought a Pro-Grow 180 in October. I love it and so do the 2 girls in the 2 x 3ft box. I am 2 weeks into bloom and the plants look great. I would definitely buy from Hydrohut again...

courtesy of my pro grows ....View attachment 1936773View attachment 1936774View attachment 1936775View attachment 1936776View attachment 1936777View attachment 1936778